Elmbridge Borough Council (EBC) prosecuted the company for breaching hygiene regulations in the 1990 Food Safety Act. The law demands that food outlets must have pest control procedures.

The 315,000 sq ft distribution centre at Brooklands delivers pre-packed foods to hundreds of Tesco stores throughout the South of England and across London.

Roger Davies, prosecuting, told Staines Magistrates Court yesterday that Spelthorne Council alerted EBC to four cans of food, which smelt of urine and had been nibbled at.

An officer who searched the warehouse in March 2003 provided magistrates with colour photographs of their findings.

They showed sugar and dog food between the pallets which had fallen out of split bags, as well as a split cat litter bag.

Broken and squashed bottles were found. Urine and droppings were photographed, which the court heard were indicative of mice.

Mr Davies said: “Officers carried out a detailed search of the warehouse and looked at the foodstuff. Animal foodstuff was found packed near to those for humans.”

He told the magistrates of other food spillages such as sugar, pasta and salt.

During another search on June 5, environmental health officers visited areas cited in a “mouse sightings” book at the warehouse.

More photographs showed evidence of dog food bags being gnawed and droppings on the pallets near Tesco’s own beetroot.

Mr Davies said that the environmental health officer requested they move foods in the vicinity out of the “ready to eat” area.

Concluding, he said that adequate pests’ procedures had not been in place and recommendations by the council had not been implemented.

But he stressed that there had been no food contamination — just a risk of affected food reaching Tesco stores.

Defending, Charles Arrand said: “The guilty plea is a clear indication that Tesco has fallen below the rules of the law and the standards it sets itself.”

He told the court the company had taken measures to ensure the problem would not be repeated.

These included blocking off areas, working alongside EBC and pest control company Rentokil, the introduction of a “next step schedule”, to raise rodent awareness training, improved cleaning and a bonus-incentive programme whereby staff log all spillages they clean up.

“Tesco has accepted that there was a risk not only for contamination of food stuffs within the warehouse designed to be consumed by humans but also a risk of contamination reaching stores.”

He stressed that Tesco’s “would I buy it” policy would have probably eradicated any danger of contaminated goods reaching the shop floor because of a range of checks all Tesco staff have to carry out between the point goods leave the distribution centre and hit the shelves.

Mr Arrand said that although animal foods were packed close to pasta, flour and rice, all these foods would be cooked before being eaten.

Chairman of the bench Margaret Gove gave Tesco credit for their plea and ordered them to pay £6,000 costs (£3,000 to EBC and £3,000 to the court).